


Mayor Cardinal

by Flightless_Bird



Series: Stitches [3]
Category: Welcome to Night Vale
Genre: Desert Bluffs, Friendship, I like her, I never know what to tag here, Post-Strex Kevin, Strexcorp, dana is nice, kevin gets some happiness now, re-education mentions, references to past abuse, shy!kevin, stitches au, yes you heard correctly
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-19
Updated: 2018-03-19
Packaged: 2019-04-04 13:22:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 815
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14021157
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Flightless_Bird/pseuds/Flightless_Bird
Summary: Kevin gets a job offer.





	Mayor Cardinal

**Author's Note:**

> I don’t have much to say for this one, either than thank you for reading if you’ve been with the series so far! Kevin is finally happy in this one c:

Kevin hadn’t been invited to visit someone like this in a very long time. He stood outside the large double doors, fiddling with his tie. City Council had shown him in, a menacing hiss of a voice emanating from beneath their hood: “come in or whatever, we don’t care.” They’d taken him to this gleaming entrance hall and told him to wait. He couldn’t get much else out of them, besides the fact that he’d been invited personally. So all he had left to do was stand here.

  
He thought of his little apartment, unfamiliarly new and small, but his nonetheless, and Nessa. He hoped she hadn’t tried to leave. When he went back, he’d have to try to find her. Maybe he could coax her out again and see if she—

  
With a sudden creak, one of the doors slid open and dark brown eyes peered out at him. Then a smile was revealed beneath them, as the door opened further. “Kevin! I’m glad you made it.

Kevin gave a short, polite nod. “Mayor Cardinal, hi.”

  
“Please, call me Dana,” she replied, flapping a hand dismissively. Pushing the door open wider, she stepped aside to let him through. Hunching his shoulders a little, he slipped past her and into the mayor’s office. It was nice, he thought, spacious and with darker, warmer tones in the coloring. He wondered if she’d had it changed.

  
She too didn’t seem quite in place with the rest of the building. Instead of the official, formal clothing he’d expected of a mayor, she wore jeans and an old-looking NVCR t-shirt.

  
“It’s been quite some time since you’ve been here, huh?” Dana asked. Following him in, she let the door close softly behind them. “Well, not in Night Vale, but out here, in the open. Did they treat you well at the re-education center?”

  
Kevin lifted one shoulder in a half-shrug. “It was a little uncomfortable. But they helped me and that’s all I really needed.”

  
“Yes, it certainly seems like it,” she remarked happily. Stepping back, she swept a quick glance over him. “You seem much more…well, like yourself, I guess would be the right way to say it.” She drew closer to him. “Look at that, they even got your collar off.” Reaching up, she made as if to touch the raw, bare skin at his neck.

  
Instinctually, he reared back a bit. She froze, a look of embarrassed hurt passing over her features. “I—it’s okay,” he stammered. “I just…”

  
“You don’t have to explain yourself, Kevin,” she assured him, dropping her hand to her side. “I’m just glad you’re feeling better and getting settled in.” Then she brightened once more. “Oh, but the main reason I wanted you to come in: I would like to offer you a job.”

  
Kevin blinked. “A job?”

  
“Mmhm! You could start at any time you’d like; I know you just got here and moved in, so I won’t expect you to begin right away. But I was thinking about how it might be a little hard for Desert Bluffs citizens to feel at home here, and wanted it to be as easy as possible for them to transition. And that’s why…” Striding over to a desk in the center of the room, she shuffled among some papers atop it and found a form. She made her way back to him and held it up eagerly. “I would like to start up a little channel for them to listen to, in the mornings when Cecil isn’t broadcasting.”

  
The forms were a blur of words in front him. Her meaning took a few seconds to sink in. Then his lips parted in wordless shock. “You…want me to be a radio host again?” he asked dumbly.

  
“Well, yes! I think you’d be quite good at it and everyone from Desert Bluffs would love to hear you again.” Bringing the forms close to her chest in uncertainty, she bit her lip. “What do you think?”

  
Something warm blossomed in his chest. He smiled, despite the sharpened teeth and stitches. “I’d love to!”

  
Dana’s eyes shone. “Oh, you have such a nice smile!” she laughed, as though seeing it for the first time. “You should show it more.”

  
Flushing a little, Kevin glanced down shyly.

  
She touched his arm in a show of friendship and then held out the forms to him. “I want you to start as soon as you feel ready to. I have some equipment here you can use and I’ll pay Cecil a visit later for anything else we need. Just come on by anytime, okay?”

  
“Okay.” Kevin looked down at the papers in his hands and felt as though he was glowing. “Thank you, Dana.”

  
Dana grinned at him and dipped her head. “You’re very welcome.”

  
After years of working for StrexCorp, he’d never wanted to smile more.

 


End file.
